Mike Gustin v. United States of America, Internal Revenue Service

REAVLEY, Circuit Judge:

The taxpayer, a former corporate officer, brought this action for a refund of employee withholding taxes owed by the corporation and assessed against him individually. The government counterclaimed for collection of the outstanding taxes. The district court entered judgment in favor of the government. Except in one respect, we reverse.

I. Background

There are two closely associated corporations in this case. Western Oil & Mineral Co. (Western) was an energy exploration and development company headquartered in Snowmass, Colorado, and was owned and operated by Bruce Miller,…